Companies are embracing advanced technologies to secure the workplace

Adopting intelligent video and artificial intelligence (AI) can assist workers in returning to safer and more secure work environments

The last couple of years have brought unprecedented change to our lives. Many of us have seen shifts to a hybrid work environment that combines remote work with time in the office. According to a recent McKinsey report, more than half of employees would like their organizations to adopt more flexible hybrid virtual-working models, in which employees are sometimes on-premises and sometimes working remotely.

As more employees return to work after the lifting of pandemic restrictions, companies are embracing smart video and artificial intelligence (AI) to help workers return to safer and more secure workplaces. They are rapidly adopting technologies that help with distance-monitoring to help lower the threat of spreading the virus and create a low stress environment for returning employees.

Securing the workplace with AI-led Smart Video

The pandemic has given rise to new use cases for smart video feeds from workplace CCTV solutions, such as thermal monitoring, crowd counting, personal protective equipment (PPE) detection, and air quality monitoring. Organizations have also implemented heat-detection and social distancing cameras along with facial recognition software.

These use cases rely heavily on AI to analyze the data collected, which means storage is critical for the success and mass deployment of these emerging use cases. Additionally, storage will be required on the edge as well as in the cloud, so that the data can be sifted through quickly and the office administrators or IT can be alerted as needed.

AI and 4K are driving the demand for more data to be stored on smart video cameras. Today’s security cameras often record video continuously in 1080p, but 4K-compliant cameras are projected to make up over 24 percent of all network cameras shipped by 2023. That means more bits of data are generated and this data needs reliable storage. Some of that data is best stored onboard your security cameras. The Western Digital WD Purple® SC QD101 microSD™ card, is designed specifically for low bit-rate recording on CCTV cameras featuring a microSD card slot.

Jaganathan Chelliah, Senior Director, Marketing, India, Middle East & TIA at Western Digital

It offers up to 1TB3 in storage capacity. It is important to have storage on-camera in case the camera attached to an NVR loses connection. This supports today’s complex 24×7 video surveillance systems.

See the unseen

With employees gradually returning to the office, it is important that organizations a provide a safe work environment. Organizations today are investing in environmental sensors to measure air quality, including carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, in a workplace4. Indoor CO2 levels should not be interpreted as a proxy for COVID-19 risk; SARS-CoV-2 transmission depends on multiple factors and one of which is ventilation. Knowing the CO2 levels in office at any time can help the site managers plan the number of employees permitted on a given day in office, and if more employees turn up, they can make appropriate adjustments to the purifying or ventilation system.
This helps in making the work environment safe for the returning employees, reducing stress and giving them peace of mind.

New Normal

For the foreseeable future, organizations will continue with a hybrid work environment, where the number of days one is required to work from the office will vary from industry-to-industry and depend on one’s job profile. The security and wellbeing of the employees in the office continues to be critical in the wake of the pandemic. Thus, the organizations must prioritize a safe workplace experience that enables an important business to take place. To achieve this, organizations will continue to depend on smart video technologies and the use of AI.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ET Edge Insights, its management, or its members

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